Roberta Writes – WordCrafter book blog tour: Resurrection Mixtape by Jeff Bowles

Today, I am delighted to host Day 4 of the WordCrafter Book Blog Tour featuring Resurrection Mixtape by Jeff Bowles.

Giveaway

For this tour we’re giving away 3 signed print copies of Resurrection mixtape and a $25 Amazon gift card. To enter, just tell 

us the top three songs on your mixtape in the comments. Come on now. We really want to know.

Winners will be chosen in a random drawing.

Unrequited Love: The Music of Resurrection Mixtape

I’ve been a musician since I was ten years old. To my mind, I’ve been a writer just as long, though it wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I found the dedication to pursue adult storytelling with everything I had. It’s funny that the eagerness to do one superseded the eagerness to do the other, but as a creative writing professor once told me, novel-length work is often not a game for the young.

That’s because, as we all know, writing takes discipline and patience, the measure of which even the joy of making music pales in comparison. Long nights staring at a computer screen, typing away, as I’m doing now. Months of revisions and edits and making everything just so.

I gave up music once the writing bug bit me. That’s no joke. One day, round about the age of twenty-two, I was out playing bars and coffee houses and open-mic nights, and the next I was composing my very first stab at a novel, my first few short stories, and let me tell you, they were nothing special.

When the opportunity came to write a book about pop music I didn’t hesitate. In recent years, I’ve picked up my guitar again, started singing and writing songs again, performing them on YouTube for the whole world to see. Music has become a major part of my life, just as it once was, only this time, I find I have the discipline to balance it with my love of and dedication to storytelling.

Resurrection Mixtape is a dark and humorous adventure. I wrote the initial draft by the seat of my pants, in a whirlwind of good songs and fun, twisted ideas, and yes, during a time in which the global atmosphere had become serious and sometimes frightening. To keep it entertaining was always my first goal, and for me, there’s nothing more entertaining than listening to some favorite hits from bygone years. A few notable selections from the Resurrection Mixtape itself include:

Billy Joel, Only The Good Die Young—this was a fun choice for the first song in the novel. Our main character, Jason Halifax, opens the door one evening to find his eternal crush and former best friend standing at his doorstep, despite the fact she died in a terrible house fire a year prior. Only the good die young indeed, as we shall soon see. I love this song because it’s so bouncy and light, a juxtaposition I couldn’t ignore.

The Temptations, Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)—track two off the Resurrection Mixtape, and one of the loveliest songs I’ve ever heard. I remember my Mom singing it softly whenever it was on the radio. My mother is quite a vocalist herself, though I don’t think she’d ever admit it. Just My Imagination is, to my mind, the greatest unrequited love song ever recorded. So many of us can relate, I think, wanting someone or something we can’t have. That’s the position Jason has been in for many years, and now Emily (that’d be our formerly dead heroine) has come back to him, giving Jason another opportunity for his ultimate love.

The Weeknd, Blinding Lights—a much newer pop tune that took the charts by storm just a couple years ago. It’s a highly romantic song, in my opinion. I don’t discriminate between old and new. Some of my all time favorite music was recorded many decades ago, but The Weeknd (A.K.A. Abel Tesfaye) is one of those recording artists who makes modern sounds feel timeless. Desire and longing, I can’t sleep until I feel your touch. Sounds like the kind of prolonged separation only a resurrection mixtape can fix.

The Cars, Drive—Years ago, when Emily was still alive, she drove Jason home when he was blind drunk. She told him everything she ever wanted to say, about her love and admiration for him, but he didn’t hear any of it. His loss, right? In the present, he glances at the spent liquor bottles on his end table. “Nothing ever changes for you, Jason,” she says. Only things have changed, and perhaps not for the better. Emily is alive again, but soon enough, it becomes clear to Jason she’s brought something dark and sinister back from the netherworld.

Those are just a few of the songs appearing in Resurrection Mixtape, and there are plenty more where they came from. Music is the primary driver of the narrative, but it’s not the entire point. I’ve produced for you a story about desire and revenge, great humor, life and death, superpowers, the supernatural, and incredible physical transformation.

I wish I could say I knew what I was doing when I first picked up the guitar at the age of ten, but you know I’d be lying if I did. I’m not sure I’m any less of a novice when it comes to writing, though I’ve been doing it now for fifteen years or so. Truth is, I love to entertain, to enlighten, to make people feel something, anything.

Or maybe not. Maybe all I want to do with Resurrection Mixtape is remind you of the love you’ve found, and the music that’s shaped you, made you more human, more vulnerable. And in such vulnerability, who knows what strength you might find?

Blurb

Emily has been dead a year, but that doesn’t stop her from crashing in on her former best friend’s life in a whirlwind of mayhem, dark magic, and music. She’s been resurrected by a supernatural mixtape full of excellent but probably evil pop tunes. Amazing powers of transformation flow through her, piece-by-piece endowing her with abilities beyond anyone’s understanding. Within and without, a dark presence dwells, ready to express itself in all sorts of colorful and destructive ways. It’s all in the music, man. Press “PLAY” at your own risk.

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-Mixtape-Jeff-Bowles-ebook/dp/B0BKYG2JJQ/

About Jeff Bowles

Jeff Bowles is a science fiction and horror writer from the mountains of Colorado. The best of his outrageous and imaginative work can be found in God’s Body: Book One – The Fall, Love/Madness/Demon, Godling and Other Paint Stories, Fear and Loathing in Las Cruces, and Brave New Multiverse. He has published work in magazines and anthologies like PodCastle, Tales from the Canyons of the Damned, the Threepenny Review, and Dark Moon Digest. Jeff earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at Western State Colorado University. He currently lives in the high-altitude Pikes Peak region, where he dreams strange dreams and spends far too much time under the stars.

Stops on the tour

Monday – December 5 – Interview – Writing to be Read

Tuesday – December 6 – Guest Post – Robbie’s Inspiration

Wednesday – December 7 – Review – Writing to be Read

Thursday – December 8 – Guest Post – Roberta Writes

Friday – December 9 – Guest Post & Review – Carla Loves to Read